Uncoordinated Youth Training Programs

Greetings Everyone,

Apologies if this question is buried in the forum somewhere, and to be quite frank, it is probably a blatant statement of the obvious why Coach started GB in the first place....but....I ask with the intent to get my children the best start they can...

BLUF:  Every gymnastic facility I recently visited (near the DC area) is absolutely clueless about Gymnastic Bodies, despite claiming "deep wisdom and experience" about training methods for young kids.

Does anyone else have this problem?  Trying not to be pejorative, considering how information is at the fingertips, and I would assume coaches are constantly searching for the protocol or method to differentiate themselves from their competitors....

Many thanks, and happy training.

Hey Ben,

If you're looking for gymnastic instruction for your kids, then in-person training at a gymnastics facility is surely your best bet. I'm not sure what facility in the D.C. area is "best" to send them to. That is outside of my scope. The GymnasticBodies programming has its origins in Coach Sommer's 4+ decades of training and coaching young gymnasts as a U.S. Jr. National Team Coach. He has since retired from coaching competitive gymnasts and instead now devotes his full time and energy to coaching those of us who weren't fortunate enough to begin gymnastics as children. He does this through the GymnasticBodies Courses. We're all now lucky enough to reap the benefits of Gymnastic Strength Training as adults, no matter what condition we're in when we decide to start. Coach has converted and scaled everything he knows about what it takes to create a healthy, functional body and made it accessible to desk workers, weekend warriors, athletes, general fitness enthusiasts, etc. Your kids could certainly train the GB Courses, but the skill development for competition is something that is best to get in-person. Does this answer your question?

2 hours ago, Everett Carroll said:

Hey Ben,

If you're looking for gymnastic instruction for your kids, then in-person training at a gymnastics facility is surely your best bet. I'm not sure what facility in the D.C. area is "best" to send them to. That is outside of my scope. The GymnasticBodies programming has its origins in Coach Sommer's 4+ decades of training and coaching young gymnasts as a U.S. Jr. National Team Coach. He has since retired from coaching competitive gymnasts and instead now devotes his full time and energy to coaching those of us who weren't fortunate enough to begin gymnastics as children. He does this through the GymnasticBodies Courses. We're all now lucky enough to reap the benefits of Gymnastic Strength Training as adults, no matter what condition we're in when we decide to start. Coach has converted and scaled everything he knows about what it takes to create a healthy, functional body and made it accessible to desk workers, weekend warriors, athletes, general fitness enthusiasts, etc. Your kids could certainly train the GB Courses, but the skill development for competition is something that is best to get in-person. Does this answer your question?

Excellent!! I agree.

Everett,

Many thanks for the clarification, and I apologize for the late reply.  Your reply does answer my question; however, I probably need to scope it just a tad more:  I am looking for a gym with the same training protocol that Coach put his young athletes through (i.e. ensuring the baseline strength is there first prior to getting into technique, etc). 

I was able to visit a few more schools / gyms recently, and I am getting a myriad of answers...many of which deal with business competition, and not wanting to share the "secret training protocol" with anyone.  Ridiculous I know, but not surprising honestly.

One gym touted itself pretty well, until I spoke with a parent whose child want to train in Houston with Bela K.....long story short, they came back with eyes wide open to another level of standards (read: their kids and coaches got blasted).  I chuckled...sounded like Coach's wise words!

Cheers!

Ben

Hi Ben,

You will find professed 'secret protocols' are more common than you would expect.  This is normally indicative however that you are dealing with a wannabe.  I always find it amusing that their secret protocols are so effective that they never manage to win.  The phrase 'legend in their own mind' is appropos here.  My recommendation is to simply chuckle and walk away.

You will normally encounter a far different attitude from heavy hitters who have already trained multiple national champions and consistently place athletes on the US National Team.  

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer